Final Round

About twenty minutes in,  I'm in a late position with A 10 suited and seat five raises...  shocking.  So i call and we go to the flop. 

5 7 8. He bets big...  but he always bets large continuation bets and i have two overs so i call.  Ace on the turn!  And he bets it huge - 18k or so? And I've already got 12 or so in...  and i call.  Maybe i should have come back over the top, but i didn't know where i was in the hand, so i called. 

Queen on the river and he puts me all in for 54,000... i have about 30k in the pot.

Ugh.

How do i fold top pair with a decent kicker to a guy that i know plays loose when i have over a third of my chips in the pot?

Conversely,  how do i call and go home by calling with a single pair,  without a top kicker? A set.  Two pair.  A higher kicker.  There are a ton of hands that beat me. 

So i agonize forever.  Forever.  I'm shocked no one called clock,  but it was a monster hand.  Twice i decided to make a hero call and buck the odds to take down the monster pot.

Hero call! 

But i just couldn't do it.  I folded.  I kept my tournament run alive. Albeit on life support as my M Ratio dropped down under 15.

He said i was way behind and he should have bet less to get a call,  but he didn't show,  so who knows.  Maybe he'll tell me before the night is out... maybe i will believe him.

Tilting with an hour and a half to go...

Still tilting fifteen minutes later.  The Russian in seat one just made a huge all in bluff that seat six made an amazing call on and he's going home..  much to the chagrin and dismay of Kentucky. 

So,  anyway,  i asked seat five if that's what he did...  a big all in bluff.  He said he had AQ. When that queen hit the board,  my gut screamed he hit two pair,  although i dismissed it as paranoia at the time.  And he could have been full of it,  poker players usually are,  but i mentioned the queen on the turn and he corrected me that the queen hit the river...  remembering the order it hit twenty minutes ago lends some credence that he at least had a queen... maybe.  But we did bond because I'm wearing an Illini hat and he's from Springfield and a die hard illini fan.

So who knows, but I'm going to have to stop dwelling on it soon though because i need some chips back,  I'm hurting. 

So i get AK in an early position,  which is great because i can make it all back on this hand.  Right here, one hand. So i raise and seat nine calls.  Flop comes 8 J 10. Turn wasn't any help,  it was a 3. I can't remember if i bet and he raised me to 6,000,  or if he just bet it..  but with two overs,  a gut shot straight draw,  and a need to win this hand,  i called to see the river. 

A nine.  That gave him three nines and i lost another ten thousand. 

Is there a bottom?

The guy to my right raised when i had AQ so we went to a flop - A 7 Q. I checked it, as did he.  The turn was a ten,  he bet,  i called.  The river was a 2 and guaranteed no flush...  he bet,  i raised,  he folded.

Bleeding momentarily stopped as i climb back to 44,000... a shell of my former self when this miserable round started. 

I got AJ suited from a late position,  raised,  and won some much needed antes and blinds to bring me up to 48,000. Yay - 48,000.

Beats being busted i suppose. 

Anyway,  then i don't see another hand for seemingly forever...  just keep watching my stack dwindle to antes and blinds.

With about fifteen minutes left,  I'm in a late position with about 40,000 in chips left realizing that I'm going to start day three with a M Ratio of about nine if the last fifteen minutes are anything like the first 105.

So seat 3 raises and i call with AJ off.  Flop comes 4 6 K... i missed it.  Ugh.  So he bets...  and i call because he is a continuation bet champion.  Ace came on the turn,  he bet,  i raised big,  he folded.  I showed him what i had because it was the end of the night and he said he had me on the flop. 

Whatever,  I'm up to 50,000!!! And a couple hands later,  they announce that we will play three more hands and be done.

If i fold all three hands ,  i will make day three and do so with a M Ratio of just over eleven...  certainly not good,  but in the clear. 

So with three hands to go,  seat six raises,  seat seven calls,  and i look down at queens. So much for folding my last three hands.

So their bet was 3,000... i raised to 8,000... and seat six thought about it for a while and put me all in.  Seat seven folds.

End of the night for day two,  pocket queens,  where have i seen this movie before?  Oh yeah,  the exact scenario i got knocked out on last year.  Awesome. 

So,  with my last 42,000 i called his all in. He had pocket jacks,  i had queens.  Now I'm all in with queens as an overpair and really getting deja vu.

No Jack,  i double up,  over 100k with two hands to go.

Now i just need to fold these last two hands... no reason to play them...

Next hand,  9 2. Fold.  Great. 

Last hand,  seat six raises.  I look down at big slick.  Ugh. Sigh...  I've got to play this.  So i call and hope to miss the flop and fold. Nope,  K 10 7.

Dammit... top pair top kicker.  And he bets into me!  I came back over the top to end it,  which that did,  and took down the last pot of the evening.

So,  heading into Day Three,  119,100 in chips, a M Ratio of  28.

Ok,  gotta try to get to bed,  no day off tomorrow - i start at noon pt.